Vijay Sardana:
Space Travel is not an adventure for fun, it is a technological challenge
to develop systems and technologies par excellence to achieve results
where mistake has fatal outcome. This challenge to survive is the biggest
motivation to develop technologies and systems which can be used with
many applications to make human life better on earth. Second World War
forced industrialization on mankind, today all global discussions and
developments are how to revive industrial growth. Similarly space travel
research may look useless, but will change the way we design energy
efficient systems and safety systems. This will change the way food
is preserved, cloth is designed, automobiles are designed, communication
systems are designed and used and many more related issues. I believe
space travel will force us to thing with zero defect approach in everything
we do in public life. This will help in conserving resources and will
make quality of life better on earth.

Timothy Merkel:
As romantic as the possibilities sound for extending humanity into space,
time is running out for the one planet we do have. We need to prioritise
the entirety of our scientific research, economic systems, political
debates, ethical theories, and lifestyle critiques into discovering
and enacting what needs to be done to maintain civilization on Earth.
If that is not done, we shall be seeing science fiction all right, but
in a different sub-genre than the space-dreamers anticipate: the apocalyptic.

Timothy Merkel, student,
Utrecht University. The Netherlands.

Jeffrey Hilton:
Gene Roddenberry had addressed this question quite early. Here is a
quote (c. 1981): "...I believe the move into space to be a human
imperative. It seems to me obvious in too many ways to need listing
that we cannot much longer depend upon our planet's relatively fragile
ecosystem to handle the realities of the human tomorrow. Unless we turn
human growth and energy toward the challenges and promises of space,
our only other choice may be the awful risk, currently demonstrable,
of stumbling into a cycle of fratricide and regression which could end
all chances of our evolving further or of even surviving."

I'm already packed.

;-)

Jeffrey Hilton is EVP Film & TV at Peerless Pictures. USA.

D K Sabharwal:
Vivid in my memory is Neil Armstrongs live radio-ed words on the moon
landing. As a kid then it was such an inspirational moment that its
recall still gives me the goosebumps.Isaac Asimov and NASA for all the
machines they propelled always fired my imagination... And I guess of
millions of kids around.They continue to do so...CURIOSITY at MARS is
an awesome work...and so were CHALLENGER...et al. At the minimum they
instil hope and inspire challenge. The endeavour that comes out from
a character thus imbued would always payoff. We got wheels because someone
chose to dream..hope and adventure!.. Any disciplined dedicated effort
by a group with an intent to better life is always worth the effort.
It has and would pay.. for details Dave has an impressive list below!

Dmitry Polonsky:
They had to discover explosives in order to have internal combustion.
They had build a nuke in order to have a microwave oven.

Space travel is R&D
for global technology. Lately there seems to be less interest in space
travel and space exploration.

I would be building permanent
space stations in earth orbit, on the moon and also on mars. I would
look for ways to mine in space, and have a space industry. :)

Dmitry Polonsky is Software Engineer. USA.

David Beach:
Definitely - yes, alot of technology has had research from space travel,
most obviously is anything to do with solar panels, computer technology
has benefited, inefficiencies in engines have been eliminated over time
as well, and medical research.

Simple "space exploration"
is not the real benefit, the real benefit the average person does not
even realise as they sit using their mobile phone talking to people
on the other side of the planet.

David Beach is Trade Floor Support Analyst at Universities Superannuation
Scheme. United Kingdom.

Don Sears:
If you own property in other solar systems it's imperative!

Don Sears is Founder and Chairman at Pennies For The Troops Inc.
USA.

Richard Freeman:
In the short term, the answer is probably a qualifed "no".
The actual expense of manned travel in space is actually quite low.
Many of the things that used to require people (especially advanced
docking maneuvers) can now be done automatically which means the necessity
of spaceflight is diminishing.

On the upside, as Dave
so rightly points out the anciliary benefits in terms of having some
of the smartest people in the world all employed by the same organisation
is without measure and is the same reason for running gigantic telescopes
or huge atom-smashers. Pure science isn't worth anythingmeone turns
it into a new phone or a better toothpaste, at which point it suddenly
becomes essential...

Richard Freeman is Employability
Skills Tutor at Ingeus. United Kingdom.

John K.:Yes, for all the
abstract reasons and technical advancements previously mentioned....but
also for all the metals, hydrocarbons and chemicals that are available
which we are currently tearing up our earth to obtain.

We only need something better than huge wasteful rockets to get off
the earth to make this economically feasible.

And for protection, the Earth has been hit by asteroids before, could
happen again in our or our children's lifetime.

And maybe Hawking is right, a vast quantity of Galaxies with an unimaginable
amount of planetary systems, gotta be intelligent life out there and
it may not be friendly. Consider how the world powers in the past century
enslaved native peoples to mine their guano or diamonds or farm their
sugar-cane.

John K., Design/Sales at NewYorkCustomWoodworking. USA.

Terry Callendrillo:
Yes.

Terry Callendrillo is board member at the World Trade Center Rescuers
Foundation. USA.

Fahhan Ozcelik:
Yes, it is. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus departed for his journey,
he had the vision for the expedition. Nobody can deny now that it had
not paid the effort,

Marilena Zografaki:
The effort?...yes! The money to be spent? No!
The amount of money to be spent on such a project is"out of space"!
There are so many needs for so many people on this planet, there are
so many illnesses to be cured that it would be so inhuman.

Marilena Zografaki, On-line Marketing / NJV Athens Plaza. Greece.

Ramesh Kumar:
It is a relative term.

If you have money and love
to do something adventurous, yes, it may be worth it.

If you do not have money,
but, it is your passion to travel to space and you are sure of managing
the finances, it may still be worth it, depending on your priorities
in life.

If you like to 'show-off'
and can manage the trip, it is certainly worth it.

Margaret A Ost,
New business developer with econometrics software and Fortune 500 b
to b background. USA.

Jon Baldwin:
I think the R&D value is huge - but it's tough to justify $1 billion
for every Rover put on Mars - one of which vanished upon entry. Could
we benefit just as much from putting that R&D money elsewhere? Hard
to say, returns tend to diminish at some point.

The effort - yes. The cost
- maybe.

Jon Baldwin, Experienced Logistics and Sales Executive. USA.

Giulio Prisco:The best comment comes from
Susan Shwartz: The meek will inherit the earth. The rest of us
are going to the stars. Its worth it. Its infinitely worth
it.

The first part of the comment
sounds like Heinlein. I have tried to find the original quote, often
attributed to Lazarus Long in Time Enough for Love or The Notebooks
of Lazarus Long. I havent found it yet, but The meek shall
inherit the earth, the rest of us are going to the stars is definitely
the sort of thing that Lazarus Long would say.

Susans comment has
attracted some typical pseudo-left noise like Punchy as this soundbite
is, it perfectly encapsulates the profound problems at the heart of
the whole space colonisation project:  the billions
of people who want to live on this planet are disparaged as dull and
unambitious;  Earth, and all its myriad co-evolutionary life forms,
are dismissed as being of only limited interest;  the exorbitant
costs, serious dangers and colossal impracticalities of space travel
are utterly ignored.

This is, of course, entirely
missing the point, for nobody is saying that the people who want to
live on this planet are dull and unambitious, or that Earth is uninteresting.
But the world is an interesting place precisely because it includes
billions of people with different interests and priorities. Some people
want to stay, and some people want to go, like it has always been.

I can imagine a future
nanny-planet scenario without space colonization, with a (gradually)
reduced population, less damage to the environment, more assistance
to the weak, reduced wealth and education gaps, and a simple but decent
life for everyone under the enlightened protection of a benevolent nanny-world
government. This scenario is good enough for a lot of persons who prefer
a quiet life with no risks, and I wish them all the best, but I would
find the
nanny-planet too boring, and escape as fast as I can. This is not putting
the meek down and calling them dull, or unambitious, but simply stating
that I have different ambitions.

There will always be persons
who prefer a more interesting and fun life with some risks, and find
far horizons and unknown wonders more appealing than the quiet familiarity
of home. These are the explorers who will go to the stars. They will
respect the choice of those who prefer to stay on Earth, but their own
choice will have to be respected as well.

Susans comment identifies
the real reason for space travel. I find arguments based on useful spinoffs
from space programs rather weak (why not just develop the useful spinoffs).
Telecom, Earth observation and positioning/navigation satellites (GPS
etc.) for both civilian and military applications are extremely useful
and can easily justify their costs, but they dont qualify as space
travel. At this moment, there is nothing that people can do in
space that cannot be done cheaper here on Earth. This will change someday,
once we colonize space, and our daring spirit of adventure is the real
reason to go.

Ultimately, I think space
will not be colonized by squishy, frail and short-lived flesh-and-blood
humans, but by uploads. Our post-biological mind children, implemented
as pure software based on human uploads and AI subsystems, will colonize
the universe. As Sir Arthur C. Clarke said, they will not build spaceships,
because they will be spaceships. Eventually, post-biological humans
will travel between the stars as radiation and light beams. But in the
meantime, we need to go back to space for our mental health as a species.

The space program of the
60s has given our generation the motivation and drive that we needed.
If we want to have a chance to escape biology and become immortal post-humans
roaming the universe as uploads we need to go back to space now, in
our squishy human bodies, to inspire younger persons and incite them
to study science and engineering, and develop new technologies. Not
everyone can be a space explorer, but we are all partners and stakeholders
in the cosmic future of our species and its manifest destiny
among the stars.

Thomas Thompson:
Hmmmm.....Good question...Without a clear objective for the billions
of dollars needed as start up capital, [and yes, there would be some
amazing benefits that we would receive in the short term stages of development],
National Security would prevent much of the true benefits from reaching
us in the private sector. The only people that could underwrite this
type of technology is our government and you know that debt crisis already.
So, without submitting an essay...here and now, " Is Space Travel
worth the effort? " Sure it is! But who would economically endorse
it? Is our attempt clear and decisive, in reaching for the stars? Intergalactic
space travel without the much needed weight, [a major consortium of
domestic and international agencies], behind it, will woefully fail.
Maybe Area 51 has a few secrets.

Most answers, an common
sense demonstrates, we, as human beings need to know why we are doing
something. We can at this stage look at the technological and scientific
developments that we can directly attribute to space travel. I am not
speaking of virgins 'space travel for all' I am talking everyday technology
that saves and improves lives. For example, power plate training, which
came about as a way of preventing astronauts muscles becoming useless,
pre and post space exploration. Well it turns out that can be used to
treat the symptoms associated with age/obesity and a myriad of muscle
conditions.

But that isn't enough,
being a Human being is about far more than profit and loss that comes
about with such creations, or even, dare I say it, about saving lives.
Space travel does something far more important than create new scientific
research about our planet (we can trace the earth's past and future
through our solar system) it actually allows us to try and answer the
questions that has haunted humanity since the agricultural revolution.

'What are the factors to
our being here? '
'Are we alone?'
'What does our future hold?'

Big questions, answerable
only by knowledge of space, we have come so far for so long as a species.
Ancient civilisations believed the stars were Gods, thanks to exploration
we know otherwise, but if they thought they were at the peak of science,
then how wrong are we about the universe that remains unexplored?

We must push the boundaries,
we must seek answers, because therein is our Humanity, and our enlightenment.

That is certainly worth
it.

Ben Laycock-Bordman is IT Sales Executive at Hardware.com. United
Kingdom.

Klaas V:As it comes to the
effort I tend to say yes, but if it's worth the money as in ROI, I doubt
it. Did any space ship ever return with enough valuables to feed hundreds
of millions hungry "wolves".

Klaas V is MetaDataBaseAdministrator at Zephyros. Italy.

Peter P.:
As in past imperialist American greed &pollution (also ideas) misled
world....now same Chinese imperialistic greed & pollution of even
greater proportions threatens humanity....so I insist on developing
better generation in world greatest market as remedy in new world order...educational
reform with focus on innovative thinking &green policy in PRC is
the key to save the world...! last 12 yrs I successfully forged intimate
relations with many PRC gov leaders which allows me to direct input
reforms....

Peter P. is president at III Individual Inspiration Institute. China.

Ian Nethercott:The answer is yes
of course. The human race needs to look at exploring the rest of our
universe as soon as possible.

Ralph de Rijke:
I was immediately struck by copywriter Susan Shwartz's comment: "The
meek will inherit the earth. The rest of us are going to the stars."
Punchy as this soundbite is, it perfectly encapsulates the profound
problems at the heart of the whole 'space colonisation' project:

- the billions of people
who want to live on this planet are disparaged as dull and unambitious;
- Earth, and all its myriad co-evolutionary life forms, are dismissed
as being of only limited interest;
- the exorbitant costs, serious dangers and colossal impracticalities
of space travel are utterly ignored.

Nothing could better express
the vanity, hubris, and irresponsibility of those who, while humankind
inexorably befouls this planet, work to launch themselves into space
to start breeding the same trouble on other, impossibly distant, ersatz
worlds.

Ralph de Rijke is freelance
translator; musician; theatremaker. The Netherlands.

via LinkedIn The Internet
of Things

Christophe Vermeulen:
"Worth" like in money ? If not, what would be your "effort"
measuring principle ?

Timothy Dolan:
Space travel can mean many things. To send Homo sapiens into orbit and
to the moon, while, great as a psychic accomplishment, has certainly
been costly with benefits not really clear to most people. In another
sense there is robotic space travel which I would count as an extension
of our consciousness as with the real-time tracking of the Mars Rover
and other such missions, seems to have a less ambivalent perception
for the relative practicality of machine media being a better tool for
the job. This is my summary response to the question.

Timothy Dolan is Principal at E-Government Advocates. USA.

via LinkedIn World Future
Society

Michael Hertel:
All avenues should be explored and I want to have a colony in space
some where of at least one thousand people as soon as possible, a colony
that could survive at least 5 to 10 years without help would be great.

Michael Hertel is inventor at M Hertel and sons Inc..USA.

Bruce Eberhardt:
yes, of course. it's one of the most important things we can do. at
some point this planet will run out of resources, if we don't destroy
it first - we're going to need a plan B

Bruce Eberhardt is Programmer. USA.

Joseph Bergantino:
Personally, I believe it is.

We draw too much from the
Earth to sustain our life on it. The following quote is from Stephen
Hawking:
"Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking
on planet Earth, but to spread out into space,"
Joseph Bergantino is Government Bid Analyst at Staples Business Advantage.
USA.

Susan Shwartz:
The meek will inherit the earth. The rest of us are going to the stars.

Thamir Ghaslan:
I suppose people felt the same way when the Wright brothers flew their
planes!

And they felt the same
way with Columbus and Magellan.

As space travel becomes
cheaper and faster with incremental improvements it will be worth it.

Thamir Ghaslan, Business
Developer, Saudi Arabia.

Doug Lambert:
If we do not spend the money congress will just find a way to urinate
it away. NO!

xxx

clarification:
I wish they would put the money into better law enforcement in Washington
DC's gang of criminals congress, senate W/H. Holder must go before we
lose complete control of the rule of law.

Doug Lambert, Lambert Consulting. USA.

via LinkedIn The Xavier
Group Ltd.

Robin Cook:
The fact is that NASA may well be the only government program in history
that has paid for itself hundreds of times over in the spinoffs that
have come out of it. & throughout its history, it has consistently
failed to publicize that fact.

I would venture to say
that none of us can go more than 10 minutes in a day without coming
into contact with or using something that can be traced directly back
to the space program. So no matter what you think of basic research/the
accumulation of knowledge, space exploration is worth the effort &
the expense. & as is always the fact with basic research, we never
know in advance what the payoff will be.

Trine Moore:
good question, as
to rare, it certainly is, a heavy burden at huge cost, for us all and
the selfsame tired arguments work in well worn paths, as Virgin galactic
for is The Barking mad. better exported to space, the ultra rich thrill,
with status, climbing mountains not good enough, we know little relatively
about their planet, especially about keep safe, here at home

Have thrill seekers with
nothing better to do than export colonialism to space.

Theres the arguments put
forward, thick and fast, in favour... Such commercial flights advance
the collective knowledge, as indeed they do for nasa etc. But the point,
the point is the common ground here, is not shaping up, too well. Apparently.

Weve not shopped enough
on earth yet, to comprehend the homeland nor to discover how to secure
civilisation here. Without exhibiting uncivility as defence, at expense,
and conflict, as wars. The major part of space exploration military
funded. Funded by militias who claim to be playing keep safe, By wars.

We need to reexamine primary
assumptions, prime ministers presidents and administrations and all,
need to reexamine primary assumptions about keeping peace, are 'working'
but not all so well, with pax romana, thats not romantic its bloody
messy and foul, Atrophied. like the thinking it thinking backwards ie
regressive.

Time to rexamine basic
assumptions, especially when civilisations not civil, and guerrulousness
and war within itself, claims to be peace, then in no fit state is the
norm. M.A.D. ideas of defense.

Time to realise, the space
case is for space cases. Theres far better cases and much better just
causes, for sorting the human dilemmas out on linked and elsewhere,
Theres plenty to sort at home as first priority and as a matter of urgency
too. Without MAD extensions from the ultras.

Trine Moore is Change
Majician at MoneyforFutures Initiatives. UK.

via LinkedIn World Future
Society
Michael Hertel:
Perhaps it is nearly impossible to say until we visit the astiroid belt.
Note, some could be rare or heavy metals nearly solid.

Michael Hertel is inventor at M Hertel and sons Inc..USA.

Lawrence R. Gelber:
All travel is space travel.

Lawrence R. Gelber, Attorney at Law, General Counsel at I Declare
World Peace, Inc.. USA.

Ken Mason:
Yes it is. I have long thought so and Elon Musk not only thinks so,
but has the vision and talent to make it happen.

Ken Mason is Transformational Finance Leader.USA.

Safia Syed:
I have not see the full planet earth. I have maximum 100 years to live.
first 20 years of your life you are under parental supervision. from
21 to 30 you do not have enough money. By age 30 you are already married
and support the family. By age 50 you are so busy with your work that
plan ahead your vacation. And you hardly visit a country or two and
important tourist man made stuff and do not even reach the place where
there is no infra structure. And actually those untouched natural beauty
is breath taking.
I want to go to K2 so badly but I will never get 3 month off for the
whole expedition.
By the time I will retire, my stamina will not allow me to even reach
the base camp.
So what exactly I will do on the moon surface in the space suite and
jumping up and down due to 6 time less gravity.

Mike Mongo:
First I would rephrase the question. "Is space travel worth the
effort?" could be considered analogous to "Is going to America
worth the effort?" or "Is circumnavigating the globe worth
the effort?" or especially "Is going to the moon worth the
effort?"

For the record, going to
the moon was most definitely worth the effort. Doing so united us. All
people took pride in that achievement. And perhaps even more importantly,
it inspired children to dream big. My experience is that inspiring children
to dream big is good for us all.

The resulting tech and
jobs created by space travel industry are important too. Furthermore,
we will increase the wealth available to us as a planet by locating
and incorporating extra-planetary resources and materials. It is understood
that an asteroid 1-mile round will have over $20 TRILLION dollars in
ore and unrefined materials. That is from one single relatively small
asteroid! (See link.)

Truly in a sense on earth
we live in a fish tank or terrarium. Our resources are limited to what
is "in the bowl". By expanding our environment to include
near-earth space and beyond, we expand our available resources. This
enables better lives for more people.

Lastly, I would argue that
it is humankind's destiny to go to the stars. It is in our nature to
go where we can see. Looking to the stars for tens of thousands of years
all humans have wondered, "What is up there? What is out there?
What's it like?" It is one of the benefits of consciousness, to
be able to wonder. As conscious beings it is matter-of-factly being
true to our nature for us to pursue space travel and to go and find
out what is out there beyond earth. In the same way when we explore
the earth and see across any chasm or waterway, or are able to spy an
unexplored island or land mass, we must go and see. The same is true
of space. It is before us and we must go and see!

Rod Bell:Evidently, space
travel is worth the effort. Not only have numerous governments spent
a lot of money on the efforts, but private companies are now vying for
contracts. Of course, some of the customers for private companies will
be governments--which always raises the question of what a real market
would do--but I think other private ventures, like satellite makers
and users, are lining up to pay for space travel.

I'll just add that "worth
the effort" means, in this context, that there's a market and the
buyers (demand) can afford it (supply).

Rod Bell is Principal at Bell Project Management, Adjunct Professor
at College of DuPage, Vice President Change Management at WebScheduler.
USA.

Bernard Gore:Yes. Not only are
there the many items and technologies Dave Maskin lists, there are many
more - Dave's list is only a sample.

The race with the Soviets
was actually a good thing - it provided a non-war area to compete and
seek to demonstrate that our ideology was superior, and is one of the
reasons we avoided a "mutually assured destruction" conflict
with them. And the fact we won the race, and then started to cooperate
in space with them, lead to the end of the cold war.

The science aspects have
been incredible - we understand far more about our own world by having
been able to study others - and the knowledge we have gained is a major
contributor to our understanding of the greatest challenge the human
race has ever faced - climate change - and also gives us much better
chance of limiting this and putting in place 'survival' approaches,
if only the politicians had the vision of those in the 60s era to do
so!

And finally, space travel
satisfies the deep-seated human need to explore - if we didn't have
this, we likely wouldn't have made it to the position of dominant species,
and certainly wouldn't resemble the species we now are. We have to explore
and expand - we simply are not capable of resisting this urge - and
if we didn't have space to do this in, at least by proxy (as most of
us will never reach space ourselves) then we'd face more conflict and
probably species-wide psychosis.

Bernard Gore is Manager Project Services at Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment. New Zealand.

Dave Maskin:What products have
been created by NASA and space exploration?

Chris Barton:I'm not convinced
that it's worth not only the effort but the money. I completely understand
the need for man's uncontainable curiosity with exploration as well
as the significant by-products which we all benefit from as a result
of NASA's amazing work on space exploration.

However I still can't see
the benefit in real terms, also we have yet to fully explore our own
planet let alone outside of it. So maybe we should complete the priorities
on Earth before we look at starting new ones elsewhere.

Liz Scott:When the Challenger
launch failed I told a friend, "Now I realize I won't get to go
to space." I still believe this is true for everyday folks like
me. As a long-time science fiction fan I had always assumed that some
day *I* might be able to choose to take a trip to a location outside
the atmosphere of the Earth we know, but at that moment I recognized
that it was much less likely than it had been.

The question for any endeavor,
I believe, is "Why are we doing this?" If space travel has
a purpose, then that purpose may well be worth the effort. History seems
to suggest that the United States got involved in space travel as a
way of competing with the U.S.S.R after World War II, to see who could
get to space first. This was not the reason I thought we were going
to space at the time, but I was very young then.